The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used a liquid developer, in particular, which can be used for a long time without causing a swelling of a photo-conductor material caused by the liquid developer and a heating characteristic of the photo-conductor material.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 4-181961 discloses an electrophotographic apparatus, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. HEI 4-35161 discloses an image forming apparatus, and Japanese Patent No. 2701768 discloses an image forming apparatus. In these apparatuses, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photo-conductor unit is transferred to such as a film electrostatically, and the transferred electrostatic latent image is developed. And further, in these apparatuses, the film is contacted firmly with the photo-conductor unit on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, and after this, powder development is applied to the transferred image. However, there is a problem that transferring the electrostatic latent image to the film is not performed sufficiently by only contacting the film firmly with the photo-conductor unit. And further, there is another problem that it is difficult to realize an image had high resolution by applying the powder development.
And Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 6-35273 discloses an image forming apparatus. In this apparatus, a film is contacted firmly on a photo-conductor unit, and after this, the photo-conductor unit is exposed. However, in this apparatus, the film is required to have transparency, and there is a problem that a characteristic of the transparency is changed by contacting the developer, and in resulting with, reliability is deteriorated.
In order to solve these problems, by using a liquid developer in which charged toner particles are contained in a carrier solvent, an image made of toners is formed on a developed image carrier, and after this, the carrier solvent in the developed image is removed and the image is transferred and fixed on a recording medium. This image forming apparatus used the liquid developer has been realized. At this image forming apparatus, a clear image can be obtained because the toner particles in the liquid developer are small.
However, in the conventional image forming apparatuses used the liquid developer, at the time when the developed image is transferred and fixed on the recording medium, squeezing and drying processes are required to remove the carrier solvent in the developed image. And the photo-conductor unit is a carrier for an electrostatic latent image and a developed image, and the developed image is formed directly on the photo-conductor unit. Therefore, there is a problem that the photo-conductor unit is required to have characteristics such as preventing from swelling, having heat-resistant, and being a long life.